Consumer Reports gives Enloe top marks for surgery

Marcia Nelson, vice president of medical affairs, and Mike Wiltermood, Enloe Medical Center's CEO, (right) discuss being reviewed in Consumer Reports magazine with a reporter on Wednesday. Enloe was given high marks in the magazine for its results in overall surgeries.(Frank Rebelo/Staff Photo)

CHICO — Enloe Medical Center is featured in the September issue of Consumer Reports magazine — which hit stands Wednesday — in an article titled, "Your safer-surgery survival guide."

The national magazine ranked Enloe Medical Center as one of the highest-performing hospitals for overall surgery. Enloe is rated as one of the top 10 list of hospitals that earned the highest overall surgery rating.

Consumer Reports looked at a number of criteria from various types of surgeries, outcomes and more, rating more than 2,400 hospitals nationwide.

In addition to the magazine article, Consumer Reports featured Enloe Medical Center in a TV segment that was shared with more than 90 television stations nationwide.

The segment features Dr. Brock Cummings, medical director of the total joint replacement program at the hospital, performing a procedure.

Mike Wiltermood, CEO of Enloe Medical Center, is honored by the magazine feature.

"It seemed like such an incredible honor for us to be in this," Wiltermood said. "I actually am still trying to get my arms around it a little bit."

The magazine feature on the hospital wouldn't have been possible without the efforts of the entire surgical team, Wiltermood said.

"As good as our surgeons and surgical team, a good surgical program doesn't begin and end in the operating room," Wiltermood said. "It starts way before that and it embodies everything."

Another factor that adds to Enloe's success is its big turnaround, which is featured in the Consumer Reports article. Seven years ago, the hospital's patient satisfaction scores hit rock bottom, physicians and hospital leaders left and patient deaths drew scrutiny from state and national officials.

"I don't think that was indicative of the service that Enloe provided, but it was really a wake-up call for us as an organization, and we had to recommit our focus on safety and on patient-centeredness and patient care," Wiltermood said.

Dr. Marcia Nelson, vice president of medical affairs for the hospital, led the efforts that improved the hospital.

"A big part of what we did is we started working from the ground up in creating a culture, creating more of a team feel again, really a collaborative team again," Nelson said.

The hospital's caregivers changed their mindsets and owned the quality of their work, Nelson said. Enloe has been able to set goals that are important to the patients, physicians and caregivers in the hospital.

"None of this happened by accident," Nelson said. "It happened because we had a vision of where we wanted to be."

Two quality initiatives that have been essential to the hospital's turnaround are an annual quality summit and quality annual report, said Nicole Johansson, director of marketing and communications.

"All you have to do is create a new vision and determination to direct all your efforts to achieving the vision, that's what I like," she said. "We did it. We just pulled ourselves by the bootstraps."

"What this recognition by Consumer Reports means for communities like Chico is that you don't have to go to a big-time hospital in order to get big-time medicine," Wiltermood said. I think that's one of the main themes of the article, is that we can do a good job here and people can stay local and get great care."